New York City is expanding the use of speed-management and pedestrian-warning technologies across its municipal fleet, making systems it has been testing a requirement for future vehicle purchases.

Under Executive Order 19, signed in July by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, contracts for the purchase or lease of new civilian city fleet vehicles must include intelligent speed assistance technology, which can detect the local road speed and physically prevent a vehicle from exceeding that limit.

Contracts for new city fleet trucks also must include pedestrian-alert systems.

The order also directs the New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services to retrofit all existing city fleet trucks with pedestrian alerts by June 30, 2029.

NYC Expands Intelligent Speed Assistance

New York City has already installed intelligent speed assistance, or ISA, on 1,000 vehicles representing 23 different vehicle types.

ISA uses vehicle-location and speed-limit information to prevent drivers from exceeding posted speeds. According to DCAS, dangerous speeding has fallen 64% among NYC's fleet vehicles equipped with the technology.

The city also has installed pedestrian-alert systems on approximately 800 trucks. Those systems give audible warnings to pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users when trucks are turning.

The executive order represents a shift from testing the technologies to incorporating them into the city's fleet procurement and operating practices.

“What is particularly significant is the progression from testing safety interventions, to measuring their performance, to incorporating them into how a major fleet purchases and operates vehicles,” said Peter Goldwasser, executive director of Together for Safer Roads.

From Fleet Pilots to Procurement

Together for Safer Roads has worked with New York City and DCAS on fleet-safety projects, including its Truck of the Future program, which has explored technologies and vehicle designs to improve visibility and reduce conflicts between trucks and vulnerable road users.

The organization said New York City's approach could offer lessons for other public and private fleets looking to expand safety technologies beyond limited pilot programs.

“The challenge in fleet safety is increasingly not whether effective technologies and practices exist,” Goldwasser said.

“It is how fleets can adopt them consistently, incorporate them into procurement and operations, measure their impact, and implement proven solutions at scale.”